Overtime taxes Wade, Heat

48 points from star guard not enough vs. Magic

December 29, 2007|By Ira Winderman Staff writer

MIAMI — Dwyane Wade couldn't do any more.

After 48 points of the heaviest of lifting, the Heat could squeeze no more out of its scoring leader.

Instead, the best of Wade through four quarters merely added up to yet another disappointment in a season of disappointment, this time a 121-114 overtime loss Friday to the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena.

"It's a little demoralizing to play my most complete game yet and to really have a feeling that we were going to win this ball game," Wade said. "To lose it in overtime, it hurts."

After shooting 16 of 21 from the field and 16 of 23 from the foul line, Wade did not attempt a shot from the field or foul line in the extra period.

It was an indictment of an injury-depleted, questionably constructed roster that with Wade matching his career high, there was no one to push the Heat in the extra period.

"They just doubled and I got off the ball and trusted my teammates," Wade said of an approach approved by coach Pat Riley. "I could have tried to run around them and take a shot, but I got off the ball and did what coach wanted me to do."

It's what Wade might have to do even more down the road, especially against the Magic.

"Tell Pat and Dwyane that next game we are trapping him the minute he walks out of the locker room," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, after coaching at AmericanAirlines Arena against his former team for the first time. "On my part, you would think I would be a little quicker on the uptake.

"He had to get 48 points before I decided to trap him. You have to wonder how slow I am on the uptake."

With center Shaquille O'Neal missing his first game of the season, and with point guards Jason Williams and Chris Quinn sidelined, Wade tried to do it all.

The Heat guard nearly did.

"I wasn't trying to go for 50. I was trying to win the ball game," he said. "And we came close."

Instead, the Heat has to wonder if there indeed is any answer to this morass that now has it at 8-22 in the standings.

After scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter, Wade ran out of gas and his team faded on its own fumes.

Wade added 11 assists and seven rebounds.

"He had an incredible, incredible game," Riley said. "He had one of those great, great, great nights."

The Heat forced overtime on a 3-pointer by rookie guard Daequan Cook with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation, but Orlando then rode the shooting of former Florida International standout Carlos Arroyo and 3-point ace Hedo Turkoglu to close it out.

The Heat's final chance ended on a turnover by guard Ricky Davis that the Magic turned into a Turkoglu 3-pointer with 11.7 seconds left that made it 119-114.

The Heat seemed to find its stride in the absence of O'Neal, shooting .506 from the field and committing only 10 turnovers. The effort showed that perhaps, down the road, the kids just might be all right, that there could be success when O'Neal is not on the court, that an athletic, perimeter-oriented approach just might grow into favor with Riley.

After battling hip pain through the previous three games, O'Neal took the night off, instantly eliminating the post-first mentality from the offense, with Earl Barron merely a nominal starter.

Instead, Wade took control of the offense at point guard and played off the athleticism of forward Dorell Wright, the agility of power forward Udonis Haslem and the activeness of Davis.

After being pummeled 120-99 by Orlando's superior nimbleness in the teams' first meeting, the Heat seemed to have answers for everything but the power of Magic center Dwight Howard, who closed with 29 points on 10-of-15 shooting and 21 rebounds, his 12th consecutive double-double.

Considering O'Neal's injury history, this hardly could be taken as a case of Howard-itis. In fact, it is the deepest into a season O'Neal has gone before missing a game since 1996-97, when he played the first 32 for the Lakers.